European football vs American football Essay Example for Free

European football vs American football Essay Football = foot + ball. How could a word so simple be so ambiguous? One could only imagine the word football to mean usage of the feet to maneuver some sort of ball. And this is true, in one type of â€Å"football† European football. Football played all over Europe involves people literally kicking a ball with their feet into a net. But when referring to football in America, the game has nothing to do with kicking, or even feet. American football is actually a game with primary focus on throwing, catching carrying the ball with the hands. In the world of sports, the biggest culture shock when you cross over the pond is the relative popularity of European football rather then that of American football. Football, the name given to both of these games, would never have been called football if it werent for the early days when the sports first originated. American football resulted from several major divergences from the European game of rugby in the late 1800‘s. This American game could just as easily have been called American rugby, but because everyone elsewhere was calling it â€Å"football†, the name stuck. Besides, in those days, the game was more more kicking orientated. It was only when the forward pass was legalized and kicks were limited to those taken from behind the line of scrimmage that the feet began to play a less prominent role in the American game. Professional American football began in 1892. In 1920, the American Professional Association was formed, but changed its name to the National Football League (NFL) two years later. On the contrary, European football was born in England in 1863, when eleven private clubs and schools met at London’s Freemason’s Tavern and agreed to come up with rules for a game that would differ from rugby, strictly by not permitting the use of the hands. This game of â€Å"football† quickly spread from England to Scotland, Wales and Ireland, all of which had organized football associations in place by 1880. Even though they hold the same name, and began in the same era, people everywhere view American football and European football as two completely different sports. Both of these sports, each being the most popular within their respective origin, attract millions of viewers all around the world. There are Europeans who love American football, and there are Americans who are die hard European soccer fans. American and European football share several similarities in the rules, terminology, strategy, and competitiveness of the game. But, they also have an even greater number of differences, including the usage of hands, number of players, scoring tactics, field size, game time and much more. To begin, the breakdown of the major football organizations is done completely different. The largest, and most popular football organization in the United States is the National Football League, better known as the NFL. The NFL is then broken into two different conferences. They are the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conferences (NFC). Both the AFC and the NFC each currently contain 16 teams each. These 16 teams are then broken into smaller divisions, each with four teams: the AFC/NFC East, North, South and West. The largest, and most popular football organization in England is the English Premier League. The Premier League is at the very top of the English football league system, and is the country’s primary football competition. Unlike the NFL, the Premier League does not have any smaller conferences within the league. The Premier league is simply made up of 20 different clubs. The Premier League operates on a system of promotion and relegation. This means that every year, the bottom 3 finishers are relegated from the Premier League, to the division below, which is called the Championship. Those 3 teams are then replaced in the Premier League for the next season by 3 of the best teams from the Championship. A major difference between the two games is the usage of padding worn during the game. American football players are covered and protected in padding from head to toe. They wear everything from thigh pads, to chest pads to a big helmet on their head. However, European football player’s bodies are completely exposed. The only piece of padding they wear are shin guards to shield the lower area of their legs. Penalties, and how they are allocated during the games are also very different. In American football, a yellow flag is thrown onto the field by the referee when something has been done wrong. This way, the whole team suffers from the penalty. In European football, the referee will hand out a series of colored cards to specific players when they do something wrong or offensive. In this manner, only the specific player suffers. Both kinds of football players use their hands differently to improve performance. American football players are required to carry the ball with their hands to maintain possession. European football players, except for the goalkeeper, are restricted from using their hands to touch or carry the ball. European football players must rely on their feet to pass, dribble, or move the ball, whereas American football players are only allowed to use their feet during kickoffs, field goals and punts. Although, both American and European football have goal lines that indicate a successful offensive play, the scoring is different. In American football, when a team advances the ball across the goal line, the team is awarded six points, with the chance to add one or two extra points from an extra-point kick or two point conversion. European football teams, however, are only awarded one point for each goal. As a result of this, European football matches are generally lower scoring than football games. The game time of the two sports is differs greatly. American football is split into four 15-minute quarters with a 2-minute intermission between the first and second quarters and third and fourth quarters. A 12-minute halftime is allowed between the second and third quarters. A separate play clock is then used to limit the offensive time to a maximum of 40 seconds between plays. On the contrary, the plays in European football are continuous. The matches include two 45-minute halves with a continuously running clock and a 15-minute halftime. Because European football is continuous, there are no TV timeouts. This is completely different from American football where they have several TV timeouts throughout the game, in which you are forced to see to see advertisements for McDonalds and Coors Light. From personal experience, I can honestly say that being a spectator at both games is very different. Living in London, I was blessed with the opportunity, to attend a Milwall (Championship League) football game. The attendance at the match included an extremely high percentage of men. (Being a girl, I even felt out of place. ) Just like many sporting arenas, there were drunk people everywhere. But, I was surprised to find out that alcohol was not permitted in the actual stadium. I live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attend Philadelphia Eagles game at least once a season. The Philadelphia Eagles are a NFL team, in the NFC East conference. Attending the Milwall game, and any Philadelphia Eagles game was very different. There are women everywhere at NFL games, and I never feel like I â€Å"don’t belong† in the stadium. Alcohol is also permitted in the NFL stadiums, but at most stadiums, it is limited to purchasing 2 containers per persons over the age of 21. I also had the privilege of being in Ireland to watch two of the biggest 7 Nations rugby games. On Saturday 16 March 2013, I was able to sit in a pub with some fellow Irish friends, who live in Cork, and watch the games. First we watched the Italy vs Ireland game. It was amazing to see how the Irish supported their team to the very end. Ireland had gone into the game with no chance of winning the 7 Nations, but it was still a huge game for the fans, and they supported their team until the very end. The Wales vs England game followed the Ireland vs Italy game. One of my good friends’s (that I was watching the match with) father used to play rugby for Wales. It was such an amazing experience watching the game in Ireland with him. Wales came out and beat England in the end. The pub went crazy and everyone was estatic. Living in America, it was so amusing to me to see how popular of a sport rugby is all over Europe, especially in Ireland and Wales. Although these two games of â€Å"football† include many differences in the ways they are played, they do have share several similarities. American and European football are both team sports that require the collaboration of teammates to reach one common goal. The objective for American football is to score s touchdown, while in European football, a team’s goal is to progress the ball up the field together and put the ball into the opposing team’s net. But, nonetheless, the objective for both games is to score the most points and win the game. Both American and European football are also very aggressive sports where players are always at a risk of getting injured. Both sports also feature two opposing squads of 11 players. While European football players from a single unit, American football players are assigned to offense, defense, or special teams, but even still there are always 11 players on each team on the field at one time. Although the two games share a common name, they are extremely different. The biggest difference being that European football players use their feet while American football focus on a the usage of myriad ways to advance the ball with their hands. Other smaller differences that set the two games apart from each other include the scoring tactics, game time, padding worn and much more. But, regardless of all their differences, the two sports share a common objective. That common objective is the goal to score more points then the opposing team and win the game. Having the opportunity to live in London has made me much more attentive and interested in the game of European football. Works Cited BBC News. BBC, 06 June 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. Matthew Berry. 100 Facts You Should know. ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 27 July 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. Premier League. Yahoo! Eurosport UK. N. p. , n. d. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. Statistics and Facts on the NFL | Statista. Statista RSS. N. p. , n. d. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n. d. Web. 26 Mar. 2013.

Analysis of Richard Adams Watership Down Essay -- Watership Down Rich

Analysis of Richard Adams' Watership Down Richard Adams novel, Watership Down, is the account of a group of rabbits trip to search out a new location to inhabit. After escaping the Sandleford Warren because of one rabbit’s instincts, nearly a dozen rabbits cross virgin country. Along the way, they run across a few other warrens. These places exhibit a completely different way of living to the fleeing group. What they learn is vital when they develop their own warren. From these places they manage to collect some rabbits to increase their size once they reach a resting point at their final destination. Each of the places they encounter is set up differently. These warrens contain a distinct and unique social system, belief and leadership role. Sandleford warren is the first location presented in the story. An Owsla, or group of strong and clever rabbits exercising the Chief Rabbit’s authority, governs the warren. The Owsla is rather military in character. When one of the rabbits, Fiver, comes across some prized Cowslip, the Owsla hurry over to confiscate it for themselves, saying, â€Å"Cowslips are for Owsla- don’t you know that? If you don’t, we can easily teach you† (Adams 14). The Chief Rabbit of Sandleford, Threarah, gained his position by strength, level-headedness, and a certain self-contained detachment. He resisted all ideas of mass emigration and enforced the complete isolation of the warren. The rabbits leave their warren in search of a new home not only because they believe Fiver when he tells them that something bad will happen to the warren, but also because the think they can make a better home somewhere else (Adams 24). The very moment that Hazel and the other rabbits encounter Cowslip’s warren, they realize there is something unnatural about the rabbits. They have no fear of other things, appeared detached and bored, unusually groomed, and gave off a particular scent. Also, not one particular rabbit is considered a leader. They cannot really have a leader because no one can offer them protection from the dangers they face. The mystery behind this warren is that a human controls it. He shoots all the enemy animals in the area, puts out good food for the rabbits, and then snares them for their meat and skin (Adams 122-3). The rabbits are aware of the snares, but choose to pretend life is okay, because they cannot escape their inevitable death... ...is chosen by the people and acts according to the will of the people. Watership Down thrived in the end, with Hazel basking on the bank and counting the blessings of their warren (Adams 395). Throughout the novel Watership Down, Hazel and his group experience a diverse assortment of warrens. Each warren contrasted the others with their leadership, social system, and beliefs. In the view of the author and many readers, Watership Down was the â€Å"best† of the locations. But if the story were to be written in a different point of view, such as that of Cowslip or Woundwort, how would the reaction be different? They could be portrayed as the poor, misfortunate rabbit. It could change the entire theme of the book. This is the case in the novel All Quiet On the Western Front, where the reader sympathizes towards the German troops during the first world war. If the story were to be written in the vision of Cowslip or Woundwort, would the reader view them as the protagonist because of their acceptance or leadership, and Hazel as the antagonist because of his attempt to be different and change the method? Work Cited Adams, Richard. Watership Down. Rex Collings, Ltd.: New York, 1972.

Outsourcing is a business model

Outsourcing is a business model in which one organization enters into a contract with another to manage and operate its business processes.   India has turned out to be one of the largest offshore outsourcing hubs for the IT sector and IT enabled services and processes.   About 44 % of all the outsourcing in the IT and the BPO industry is done to India.   There may be several reasons as to why India has turned out to be an IT hub (Schaaf, 2005 & Sharma, 2004).The human resources available in India are well trained, skilled, not very expensive to hire, and are basically English speaking.   The population of India is young and can be utilized in almost any field.   The human resources available in India (especially in the IT sector) have been high.   These resources are increasing in number tremendously and are becoming more and more available for the IT sector.   The cost of hiring human resources in India is much lower than several developed countries in which the MNCâ €™s originate.   Companies have to pay about 10 times more if they want to hire a professional in their home nation.   Hence, investing in India could be a huge benefit (Schaaf, 2005).India does belief in the social upliftment and offering policies that would help women to become more independent and free.   As the IT and the KPO industry is not labor oriented, it is officering a good opportunity for women to work.   Slowly the situation of women has improved in the country, and people would basically thank the booming outsourcing business (Burzi, 2005).   Personally I feel that women are more suited to do jobs in which meticulous concentration is required and the BPO industry is offering a huge opportunity for women.The Indian government has setup policies that do favor outsourcing and building the country into a global outsourcing hub.   India is very much interested in creating international relationships and establishing international business with several nation s in the world.   As the BPO industry is offering a huge benefit for the society and upliftment of the people, the government is continuously encouraging foreign companies to setup shop in India (Schaaf, 2005).India has been growing at a tremendous rate in the last ten years.   The growth annually has been about 6 %.   India may even be able to grow at a faster rate.   One of the mains causes for such a high growth rate is the booming outsourcing and the knowledge-processing units available in India.   India has been especially been open to the field of IT and software, and application of Information technology has expanded into various other sectors.   Effectively, many companies are having their back-end office in India, which offers back-end support (Schaaf, 2005).There may be a few issues that need to be considered for foreign companies whilst investing in India for outsourcing.   India has a large number of universities and a huge number of graduates are produced every year.   However, several of these universities may not meet international standards, and only about 10 to 20 % of those who graduate out every year are able to meet international standards.   The cost of hiring these individuals may become very difficult in the future due to a shortage of human resources.   Many people still consider the outsourcing business as unattractive and it may be difficult in certain instances to actually acquire the staff for such businesses.   Foreign companies may have to consider investing in the education system so that the quality of education is improved (Schaaf, 2005).India may be available to offer specialized services in certain fields.   However, in several other fields expertise may not be available.   The international investors who want to setup back-end support offices in India may not know this.   The investors have to conduct a detailed research so as to know the resources available and accordingly plan to utilize them, b efore actually investing (Schaaf, 2005).Another problem, which exists in India, is that it may be very costly to setup telecommunication links with the parent company in the US.   If due to some reason this telecommunication links are lost, life may be virtually be shut down completely in another part of the world.   Outsourcing businesses are usually conducted in developed cities of India, and several far-flung areas are unable to offer any support to the BPO’s.   Land is very costly such places, and companies would have to pay a huge price to actually setup infrastructure (Burzi, 2005).It may be very difficult for Indian professionals to work as per the convenience of US or European timings.   Many firms, which have been outsourcing their business processes to India, need to take several issues into considerations before actually conducting work.   They would have to take care of the conveyance and security of the employees (especially females) before having them work as per the US and European timings.   Socially, an Indian woman may not like to venture out of her home at night and work during night shifts.   This may be one of the major issues.   However, several of the MNC’s have guaranteed proper security, conveyance and flexible work timings to ensure that they have the staff to work according to the US and European timings.Hence, although India does offer a huge amount of opportunities for foreign investors, several issues need to be taken into consideration before actually investing.   It may actually be a challenge, but finally if these issues are sorted out, the companies could bear true fruits for their investment.   Besides, it has really become a trend for a company to setup a business in India that would offer backend support.References:Burzi, F. (2005), Outsourcing in India Gets Cultural Backlash, Retrieved on September 10, 2007, from Impact Lab Web site: http://www.impactlab.com/modules.php?name=News&file=arti cle&sid=12101 Schaaf, J. (2005), Outsourcing to India: Crouching tiger set to pounce, Retrieved on September 10, 2007, from Deutsche Bank Research Web site: http://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/DBR_INTERNET_EN-PROD/PROD0000000000192125.pdf  Sharma, S. (2004), BPO Industry in India- A Report, Retrieved on September 10, 2007, from BPO India Web site: http://www.bpoindia.org/research/bpo-in-india.shtml

The Lack of Social Mobility in Jane Austen’s novel Pride...

Pride and Prejudice, a novel written by Jane Austen during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century is often thought of as simply a love story and although on the surface this is true, it is in fact much more than that. Austen focuses greatly on the class system and lack of social mobility allowed in England during this period (the Napoleonic Wars, 1797-1815) and the pride and prejudice that these social divides reveal, as well as the personal pride and prejudice shown by individual characters and how these interlink. The novel is in many ways a comedy of manners (that is, a comedy that ridicules a particular social group because of their attitudes and behaviour, in this case the Upper class and to some extent the Middle class).†¦show more content†¦Her dislike of him grows as his liking of her increase until whilst she is visiting her recently married best friend Charlotte, and her husband, Elizabeth’s cousin Mr Collins, Mr Darcy proposes. Elizabeth refuses, however when she discovers she was mistaken in her view of him her feelings towards him warm, particularly after she finds out he saved her sister from disgrace by paying Mr Wickham (Darcy’s adversary and the man who had eloped with her sister) to marry Lydia. They finally put aside their differences and marry, to Darcy’s aunt Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Miss Bingley’s disgust. Elizabeth Bennet is a very good example of both pride and prejudice. She is her father’s favourite as she is the cleverest of his children, in his words she â€Å"has something more of quickness than her sisters†. The first time she meets Mr Darcy, at an assembly (ball) she overhears Mr Bingley attempting to convince him to dance. He refuses. When Bingley suggests he dance with Elizabeth, describing her as very pretty (though not as beautiful as Jane) Darcy is not convinced, replying that â€Å"she is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me†. To Elizabeth’s credit she tries to laugh it off, relaying the story to her friends but the reader can see she is more affected by the comment than she lets on during her conversation with Charlotte Lucas after the ball. Charlotte says his pride â€Å"does notShow MoreRelatedComparing The Representation Of Women s The Yellow Wallpaper And Pride And Prejudice 1662 Words   |  7 PagesCompare the representat ion of women in Gilman’s ‘The yellow wallpaper’ and Austen’s ‘pride and prejudice’. To what extent do you agree with the view that Gilman presents conventional patriarchal expectations of women, more critically than Austen. Both Austen and Gilman breakthrough the conformity of femininity at a time of rising feminism in a bid to encourage the female viewpoint which was put down or rather shunned to be less valuable by the society they lived in. Gilman however presents it inRead MoreThe Portrayal Of Women By Jane Austen And Charles Dickens Essay2871 Words   |  12 PagesAnalysis of the Portrayal of Women by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens in Pride and Prejudice and Hard Times respectively, in view of their social positions, gender identities and historical situations. Published first in 1813, Pride and Prejudice is universally acknowledged as Jane Austen’s (1775-1817) most popular work of all times. The novel was written between 1796 and 1797 and was initially titled First Impressions. Set in the backdrop of rural England in the late eighteenth and early nineteenthRead MoreJane Austen s Pride And Prejudice1766 Words   |  8 PagesThe social world of Jane Austen’s, Pride and Prejudice is one in which women’s rights were limited due to society’s patriarchal point of view. In Jane Austen’s world, women suffered on the account of their gender in a class pretension society making it only possible to increase social mobility through the mean of marriage. Austen depicts marriage as an economical business, needed to rescue women from succumbing to a life of poverty and disgrace. In a society that affirm the principle values of marriage